Come Here
by revelationsinrevenge
Summary: Damon's POV of the phone call, Elena's confession and the aftermath. [Post 4x10] - [Two-Parter] - Complete
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries, that belongs to LJ Smith and CW. **

**The conversation is taken from the episode 4x10 - After School Special.**

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His moves were mechanical; yet revealed a certain practiced ease as another pile of soil was lifted out of the grave he's digging. He did this far too often that his mind has begun to wander to the conversation he has had with Klaus, of all people. A sinking feeling crept into his chest, the situation had been torn out of his hands faster than he could think, so much for teaching Van Helsing Junior how to hunt vampires properly and maybe dangling one or two vampires who deserved it (though really, who was he to talk about anyone deserving anything?) in front of him to stake.

Now he had to deal with a whole town of newborn baby vamps. Fan-fucking-tastic.

The shovel sank into the soil again just as his phone rang. Shifting his weight to lean on it, he reached into his pocket to pull it out. The bright screen illuminated the name of a person he had spent the last few days admittedly trying to avoid, letting her words go to voicemail, then listening to them over again, letting her voice saturate his being, allowing him to imagine she was right here with him, right now.

But his considerable willpower caved tonight.

"I hope your day has gone better than mine," he commented, after his phone finds itself to his ear. "Can't say I'm liking the odds."

A brief pause, in which he heard her slow breathing over the phone, a quiet rhythmic calmness, but her following words shoved all other thoughts to the side.

"Stefan knows about us." Her voice is careful, measured, and even has he reacted, a part of him wondered if she has regretted it already, it's an instinctive action, even though she has told him countless times to not doubt her. Because the age-old mantra of being the one that's never the chosen one still echoed around in his mind.

"How did he take it?"

"How do you think?"

At this rate, he should probably expect the imminent deaths of any and all fluffy animals within the near vicinity of the boarding house. His lips pursed slightly, a small frown appeared between his brows before vanishing. He tried to do the right thing by his brother, but maybe he should have thought of that before Elena and him had glorious love all over his bed, which, if he might add, was _after _they broke up.

"Well, I'm thinking for the first time all week I'm happy to be in Camp Nowhere," he replied, a slight amused sound escaped him, though there was no real emotion behind it.

"How's Jeremy?" she inquired, and his thoughts swivel back around to her little brother, as his eyes flicked towards the body of pizza girl, currently embellished with a wooden stake, a glorious reminder of how he had failed in his attempt to keep innocent lives out of this.

"That depends on how much you trust me."

"You know that I trust you."

That implicit trust caused his emotions to take a high dive, the fact that she gave it so willingly, even after everything.

"Nah, I think he's going to get through this just fine." He would guide him, every step of the way if he had to, not just for Elena. If he cared to admit it, he had begun to think of Little Gilbert as family, albeit one driven to murder every vampire he encountered, including him.

"Thanks for looking out for him."

"Yeah I told him if he was very good I'd buy both of them ice cream, so… Look, I gotta go."

Dead body to bury, then guiding baby hunter into killing a town full of vampires and drowning in bourbon after, trying to compensate for the echoing emptiness inside him. That seemed about it.

A sharp intake of air on her end halts him. "Wait… Something happened today."

His shoulders froze, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"I realized something… about us," she went on.

Teal eyes widened fractionally, and he wondered if this was it, that she had finally broken the sire bond and realized that it had all been a mistake. Because it always was. A tight clenching feeling enveloped him, and his breathing stilled.

Maybe he should have drowned himself in bourbon first.

"You can say that it's the sire bond. You know what? Maybe it is, but I'm telling you it's the most real thing I've ever felt in my entire life."

His shoulders slackened, and a fervent, almost pleading hope ran through him, all of which was reflected clearly on his face, and would likely have surprised anyone who had been there. He couldn't find the strength to bury these emotions under a careful facade at the moment, since they were all crushed by the meaning behind her words. If this was like before, and she was attempting to convince him to let her come to him, he was steeling himself to say no… again. Was it too much to ask that this be real?

"I love you, Damon," she said simply, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

It was his turn to take a sharp intake of breath. A surreal feeling settled over him, and the resounding love he felt in response to her felt like it was tearing his heart out of his chest.

She loved him.

He blinked, his eyes roving the area in panic, relief, joy, and a gut-wrenching love that threatened to swallow him under. Those words soothed a part of him he never knew existed, giving him an unbridled hope that he would be loved, by someone who loved him as much in return.

Elena Gilbert loved him.

"I love you."

If she was right here, right now, he would have kissed those perfectly full, wonderful lips with every ounce of passion he had kept restrained all those times she danced in and out of his grasp. He would make up for all the lost time. The emotion in her voice seared his veins, and his frame trembled ever so slightly from the depth of his response.

But could she love him still, once she knew what he was leading her brother into?

"Look, I'm going to get this cure for you… And I'm going to have to do things you're not going to like." Better to let her know now than later.

But right now, he cherished this moment.

Because it felt right. And who's to say she couldn't hate him for what he was about to do here?

"Damon-"

He cut her off. "Listen to me carefully. Get in your car, right now… Come to me."

Thoughts of her face, that smooth skin, those doe eyes that seemed to see right into him, and those lips that he would be content to spend forever kissing danced around his mind. He needed to feel her touch, let her scent flood his nose, wrap his arms around her frame and marvel at how perfectly they fit together. Screw holding her at arm's length, for right now he wanted nothing more than to never let her go.

He needed her.

"I'll be there soon."

There was a silent pause after she hung up, and his arm sank down to his side, even as warring emotions of disbelief and love raced through him. He looked up to the skies, taking in the stars strewn across the inky blackness. It seemed unreal that anyone would ever place him first, and he certainly hadn't expected that it would be Elena, the girl he would die for, the one he promised that he would never leave her side again.

She chose him.

A small, genuine smile lifted his lips.

_It's about time. _

_I love you, Elena Gilbert. _


	2. Chapter 2

**_Smoulderhaldersgirl_ asked if I might take on the scene after the confession where Elena turns up at the Lake House, so I started writing and this is the end result. I hope you all enjoy it and please leave a review if you do. **

**I appreciate every single one of those reviews left for the first chapter, and all those favourites. 22 of you! Wow! More than I could ever have expected. Thank you all. x**

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The porch light flickered.

Damon stood against the wooden banisters, his eyes peering into the woods before him, watching, as the dark shadows seemed to creep closer. He was not really staring, however, as much as he was lost in thought, the conversation that he had with Elena over the phone replaying like an endless loop in his mind.

_I love you, Damon. _

Those words were like the sweetest of aphrodisiac and the gentlest of warm, summer breezes. He had heard almost every possible variation of those words in song, poetry and prose, had witnessed exulted confessions, passionate screams, and most of all, he had to watch as Elena told it to Jeremy, Jenna, Alaric, Caroline, Bonnie and so many of the people she loved with her whole compassionate being, even his dear brother (as painful as that was), but never him.

A smirk tinged his lips. Until now, of course.

So help him, he was turning into a spineless, romantic sap.

Yet somehow the idea failed to bother him.

His elation was clouded briefly as he wondered why exactly had she decided to confess that to him. What had happened to make her decide this little confession? That question was sequestered in the corner of his mind as the headlights of Elena's SUV swiveled into the driveway.

He remained still as her car slid to a halt, and he could hear her deep breaths, the slight acceleration of her heartbeat, which was slower but distinct nonetheless. The car door opened and she clambered out before leaning against it. He observed as her gaze slid over him before returning to his face, watched as various emotions swirled across her face, and exulted when she eventually gave him a small, tremulous smile.

Within moments, he was standing right in front of her, an action he didn't even realize he had been about to do. There was scarcely a hair's breadth of distance between their bodies and her scent of honeysuckle and lavender, under laced with something that was wholly Elena, filled his nose and he stifled a groan at the images that raced unbidden across his mind.

There was a seemingly endless silence.

"Did you mean it?" he whispered. His eyes searched her face, his emotions warring between hopefulness and despair as he waited for her answer. At this moment, he never felt more vulnerable, more excruciatingly raw, because decades were enough for him to embrace the belief that a chance at happiness was never going to be within reach. All of that would cease to matter, depending on the next words that she would utter.

Her hands moved to wrap around his face, her thumb brushing over his skin, seemingly marveling at the fact she could perform such an action.

_Christ Elena, do you really have to-_

"Yes."

Tossing restraint to the wind, his lips collided against hers in a rushed kiss, as his tongue traced her bottom lip before sliding into her mouth, swallowing her moan and smiling as she arched her body against his, all smooth round curves against the hard planes of his body. Breaking away from her lips, he licked and nipped his way down the smooth expanse of her neck down to her collarbone. Every exposed skin was begging to be marked, but he paused at the crook between her neck and shoulder, his ragged breaths spilling out over her skin, causing her to tremble against him. Resting his forehead on her shoulder, his arms curled around her waist in a tight grip, and if the action had hurt her, she didn't complain, instead her arms found their way around his shoulders in an embrace that was equally as tight.

Her cheek rested against his forehead, and he could feel her warm breath over his ear.

"I didn't know how I never saw it before, the way you stood by me, the way you loved me in spite of everything I've done and what I've become. We had something, you were right. I just prevented myself from seeing it, because you frighten me." – He released a low gasp at this, and she clung to him tighter as her next words flew out incessantly in a rush to explain. – "I'm frightened by the possibility of what you could offer me. You love so deeply, so passionately that I'm afraid you're going to burn me from the inside out."

She sucked in a deep, unnecessary breath and he could sense the moment when her lips curled up. "I have no idea why I was so terrified, because you consume me… And I have never felt more alive than when I'm with you."

Her words were battling against every one of his walls that he had so carefully constructed and he lifted his head off her shoulder to meet her eyes - eyes that were filled with so much love and adoration, all of which was directed at him. His own fell shut for a moment. _Please_, he thought fervently, _please don't be the sire bond. _

Opening them, the first thing he noted was her eyes peering back at him with slight puzzlement at his silence and the small tender smile that curled her lips.

"I love you, so much," he said tremulously, his hands moving up from her waist to wrap around the ends of her hair as his forehead rested against hers. Her face split as the smile broadened.

"I love you too."

And he had thought hearing it from her at all would have been the pinnacle of everything good that had happened to him in his life, but hearing it first hand while having her wrapped up against him caused a painfully beautiful exquisite emotion to run through him.

Which was why it would destroy him when the bond was broken, to have her eyes cast towards him in disgust, to have that very same mouth that was now swollen in the most beautiful of ways say that it was all a lie would break him irrevocably, because she wasn't Katherine, no, she was so much more. And he didn't know his limits of which he could stand by her as she ran back to his brother when this was over. There was only so much_ hurt_ he could take.

Her confession had made it so hard for him to stay away, to try and be the better man (the fucking irony). The last thing he wanted was for her to do this because she felt obligated to be make him happy in some sick way, but because she wanted to. Right now, it was too late, she had already broke him apart even if she failed to realise it.

All in all, he was screwed.

"Elena," he began. "What would make me happy, is if you made your choices out of your own free will. Not like you did listen to most of what I've told you to do before, but… your decisions, from now on, will be free of influence from me." He pressed a finger to her lips when she made to interrupt, and her eyes widened. "No matter what I ask you to do, you yourself will decide whether you want to do it. You'll do what makes _you _happy."

He sighed, a low soft sound. "You're free."

Slowly, he extricated himself from the safety of her arms, putting some space between them, giving her silent permission to drive away, whether away from him or back to the safety of his brother's arms, he didn't know, nor did he particularly care.

If only he could convince himself.

This was far from breaking the sire bond, but it was better than nothing.

He certainly didn't expect her to close the distance between them. Damn vampire speed. And press her lips against his just as roughly as he did moments ago, seeking a response from him, one that he gave after futilely resisting for a few more moments.

"You're such an idiot," she mumbled against his lips before pulling back, shooting him a slight affronted look, before her gaze softened. "I choose you, Damon. I appreciate what you said, setting me free and all that, but it doesn't change a thing. Maybe the bond's broken, maybe it's not, but we'll survive this. We always do."

She titled her head to the side speculatively, before sliding both hands underneath his jacket and stepped closer, curving her body into his warmth.

"I still love you."


End file.
